San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco Mission

Devoted to Saint Francis of Assisi.

Simple facade of exquisite beauty.

Dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, this Mission was built between 1754 and 1762 by Fray Juan Crespi. It is considered the best preserved, with an ornamentation more subtle and complex than the others. It keeps its open chapel and bell tower, as well as its posas chapels that were used to pose the Sacrament, during the celebration of Corpus Christi.

The facade is the smallest of the five Missions, and is topped by an unusual vase. The main image corresponds to San Francis, housed in a niche topped by a polygonal arch and flanked by two musical angels: a violinist on the right and a guitarist on the left. The rest of the facade is full of flowers, foliage and ears of corn, where the angels multiply, first there are two, then four and in the third body there are six.

Unlike the others, Tilaco still retains its full atrial frame as well as the shell-shaped entrance door, a reference to water, baptism and purification.